The EIB funding will support the development of three projects in the two cities: 

  • the €138m refurbishment and extension of Alexandria’s 13.8km Raml light rail line 
  • the €750m Phase 1 of the Abu Qir project, which will convert an existing 22km urban railway in Alexandria into a full metro line, including the creation of additional stops and the removal of at-grade crossings, and
  • the €240m refurbishment of the 23km Cairo Metro Line 2, including upgrades to electrical and mechanical systems. 

The funds will be issued in two tranches, supplied under the European Union’s (EU) External Lending Mandate (2014-2020). The first €600m tranche was awarded alongside the signing of the agreement, with the second €528m tranche expected to be granted early next year. 

In addition to financing, the EIB Economic Resilience Initiative and the EU Neighbourhood Investment Programme will also provide grants for technical assistance and advisory support for the three projects. 

The projects will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the two cities, which together account for around a third of Egypt’s total population, in line with both the EIB’s climate change objectives and Egypt’s Paris Agreement contribution.  

In addition, the projects will strengthen the two cities’ transport networks and alleviate congestion. 

“Understanding the value of transport infrastructure is at the heart of informed policy-making,” says Dr Rania Al-Mashat, minister of international cooperation. “Benefiting more than half a million passengers a day, we are not only reshaping Egypt’s economic geography but also meeting social and environmental targets to drive sustainable growth.”

Cairo Metro is currently undergoing a programme of overhauls and expansion.

This includes the 7km 4B extension to Line 3, inaugurated in August 2020, and construction of the new 19km Line 4 Phase 1, due to open in 2024. The metro is also carrying out refurbishments of lines 1 and 2, including the renewal of signalling, the replacement of rail and new rolling stock. EIB approved a €350m loan for the Line 1 refurbishment in August 2018. 

Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) awarded a contract in October 2020 for the design and supervision of the rehabilitation of Alexandria’s Raml line to a Systra-led consortium with ACE, Egypt, and French company Egis and its subsidiary Projacs. Refurbishment of the 1435mm-gauge line is expected to be carried out over 34 months, including a design phase of around 10 months and an implementation phase of two years. 

The 43km Abu-Qir metro project, announced last August, will connect the Alexandria’s eastern Abu-Qir district with Burg al-Arab in the west, at a cost of around $US 2.5bn. The project is expected to be delivered in three phases: 

  • Phase 1 (22km), which converts the existing urban rail line between Abu Qir and Misr 
  • Phase 2 (8km), a new line which will connect Misr to al-Max, and 
  • Phase 3 (15.5km), which will connect al-Max, via Alkyl, to the Cairo-Alexandria desert road. 

The line will include 6km of viaduct, and will offer a maximum speed of 120km/h. 

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